hurricaneeris's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Cool dystopia, painfully mediocre writing.
iam_griff's review against another edition
4.0
I remember watching this anime back in the early '90s. It was one of the first I'd ever seen & I was captivated at the animation, nudity & adult content as I'd only seen Saturday morning cartoons LOL!! The story here is pretty straight forward. D is a standard vampire hunter that speaks seldom & only when he has something to say plus a strict code of honor. His skills are unapparelled with his sword. This story brought back a lot of memories. Its a little cliché, but still enjoyable.
As usual Graphic Audio does a superb job bring this novel to life.
As usual Graphic Audio does a superb job bring this novel to life.
jbaustian1987's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ithilienlady's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
bogdanbalostin's review against another edition
3.0
This is read like a bad anime. Do you remember the unspoken rules of writing? This book manages to break every single one of them... which is refreshing in itself, but understandable for western audiences is jarring. How many exclamation marks do you want on one page? the correct answer is all of them!
Do you need to explain plot twists instead of setting them up? Of course! It turns out he was not dead, because he had a secret weapon. What was this secret weapon? Why, yes, of course, the device he somehow stole from the other character when we were busy narrating this scene!
If you enjoy this kind of writing with zero character development and plot points coming out from nowhere, then this book will bring you great joy!
And thus, it read like a bad anime. Because anything can happen when you least expect it. But don't ask for any reasonable explanations.
As I said, breaking rules is refreshing because while the quality seems very low, guess what? It can be enjoyable, and it is a fast read when things happen one after another at breakneck speed.
Unfortunately for me, in the end, it was quite shallow. It was a medium-length story that seems to only deserve a maximum of 1 hour of my time. And yet it took me more to finish it all.
Lore and immersion
I'm not ashamed to admit I read pulp fiction. And game and move tie-in books. Even though the quality of writing can be low, the immersion and lore keep me wanting to discover more. While this Vampire Hunter D has potential in the lore, it fails to bring immersion because of the technobabble and magic and science and vampire and mechanical werewolves and vampires who are extremely high tech but still sleep in coffins and somehow are afraid of ancient symbols. At first, it's exciting. It's a world so big that mixes everything you like together. But not in a consistent way. There is no love for world-building here. Almost everyone is indestructible when they need to be and then dead in a second when the plot demands it. Many tech and discoveries seem to be written without consideration to the larger world and how they can affect the whole ecosystem.
I'm conflicted. On the one hand, I'm curious about this world, but on the other hand, I feel cheated when most things only make sense with a huge stretch of imagination.
Do you need to explain plot twists instead of setting them up? Of course! It turns out he was not dead, because he had a secret weapon. What was this secret weapon? Why, yes, of course, the device he somehow stole from the other character when we were busy narrating this scene!
If you enjoy this kind of writing with zero character development and plot points coming out from nowhere, then this book will bring you great joy!
And thus, it read like a bad anime. Because anything can happen when you least expect it. But don't ask for any reasonable explanations.
As I said, breaking rules is refreshing because while the quality seems very low, guess what? It can be enjoyable, and it is a fast read when things happen one after another at breakneck speed.
Unfortunately for me, in the end, it was quite shallow. It was a medium-length story that seems to only deserve a maximum of 1 hour of my time. And yet it took me more to finish it all.
Lore and immersion
I'm not ashamed to admit I read pulp fiction. And game and move tie-in books. Even though the quality of writing can be low, the immersion and lore keep me wanting to discover more. While this Vampire Hunter D has potential in the lore, it fails to bring immersion because of the technobabble and magic and science and vampire and mechanical werewolves and vampires who are extremely high tech but still sleep in coffins and somehow are afraid of ancient symbols. At first, it's exciting. It's a world so big that mixes everything you like together. But not in a consistent way. There is no love for world-building here. Almost everyone is indestructible when they need to be and then dead in a second when the plot demands it. Many tech and discoveries seem to be written without consideration to the larger world and how they can affect the whole ecosystem.
I'm conflicted. On the one hand, I'm curious about this world, but on the other hand, I feel cheated when most things only make sense with a huge stretch of imagination.
acarbonbasedlifeform's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
waywardskyril's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
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What can I say? This book was... It was... very intriguing... very original, even with the cliches there was some difference to make it new and cool. There were bizarre creatures, surprising twists, and truly epic characters. I also usually enjoyed the way the book was written.
The way it was written... I felt as if the author was watching everything unfold and then describing it to his readers. This was kind of strange and fun, but at the same time, it could be confusing because he was trying to let the reader come to conclusions and connect some dots himself.
There was this process occasionally of reading something and thinking something important just happened, but you're really not sure what:
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Then you'd start to figure it out:
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Then it would occur to you, and the author would be sitting there going:
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Out of everything, my main complaint is the swearing. There was quite a lot of it, and some hard stuff too. This book would have been equally good without any of it. It's frustrating reading such an interesting book and then coming across all of that. I mean come on, really?
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What can I say? This book was... It was... very intriguing... very original, even with the cliches there was some difference to make it new and cool. There were bizarre creatures, surprising twists, and truly epic characters. I also usually enjoyed the way the book was written.
The way it was written... I felt as if the author was watching everything unfold and then describing it to his readers. This was kind of strange and fun, but at the same time, it could be confusing because he was trying to let the reader come to conclusions and connect some dots himself.
There was this process occasionally of reading something and thinking something important just happened, but you're really not sure what:
Then you'd start to figure it out:
Then it would occur to you, and the author would be sitting there going:
Out of everything, my main complaint is the swearing. There was quite a lot of it, and some hard stuff too. This book would have been equally good without any of it. It's frustrating reading such an interesting book and then coming across all of that. I mean come on, really?
romiress's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It was an interesting read. VHD is a classic, but it's one that hasn't really been emulated. The setting feels completely unique and very well thought out, but 'super powerful vampire MC turns out to be dracula/related to dracula/etc' has been around the block and then some. Feels very dated in some ways.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Misogyny